Every keyboard I have ever seen contained a caps lock and scroll lock key. However, I have never figured out what scroll lock is for, and the caps lock key has always annoyed me (I have disabled it using AutoHotkey :-). I wonder what both keys are good for. Is there anyone who really uses these keys? And is there anybody who knows why you can't buy a keyboard without them?

Yes, I use the caps lock for capitalization more often than I do the shift key.
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DarkwoofSep 23 '09 at 9:00

9

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1

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ldigasSep 23 '09 at 19:32

9 Answers
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On that site you can find a utility to do make the CapsLock key act as different key. But you're already doing this with AutoHotKey, but with AutoHotKey you can get more creative in your remapping - and make ScrollLock do something else too.

The scroll lock key was meant to lock
all scrolling techniques, and is a
remnant from the original IBM PC
keyboard, though it is not used by
most modern-day software. In the
original design, scroll lock was
intended to modify the behavior of the
arrow keys. When the scroll lock mode
was on, the arrow keys would scroll
the contents of a text window instead
of moving the cursor. In this usage,
scroll lock is a modifier key like Alt
and Shift (which modify the function
of other keys) and, more specifically,
a toggling lock key like Num Lock or
Caps Lock, which have a state that
persists after the key is released.

Honestly, the only program that I know of that actually modifies its behavior when scroll lock is on is Excel. Other than that, I don't think there are other notable programs that use it.

I'm sure it's pretty clear what Caps lock does. Its usefulness is a bit limited, but I still use it from time to time.

Actually, Linux TTY's stop their scroll down when the lock is activated. However, you specify notable, so I'm going to let you decide if you want to include them. (However, dreamlax has this covered).
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new123456Mar 16 '11 at 0:23

The Linux virtual consoles pause the scrolling of output when scroll-lock is turned on (locking the scrolling, I suppose).

Since I very rarely use caps-lock, I remapped it to the “compose” key, which allows me to press a sequence of keys to produce a “composite” character. For example, when I press Caps Lock, /, o, then I get the character ø.

I suppose caps-lock would be very suitable to COBOL developers, since they are always yelling their code.

The Caps Lock key is used for capitalization, when you do not wish to keep holding down the Shift key. This can be for when you wish to type out a string of capitalized letters, or in general for people like me. LOL.

I find the scroll lock indispensable with my KVM setup - most KVM devices, AFAIK, uses a combination like ScrLck-ScrLck-Enter or ScrLck-ScrLck-1/2/3/4 as hotkeys to switch between devices.

I guess, no one is old enough to remember the real reason for the caps lock key. Yes, it comes from the typewriters. You see, typewriters did not have these fancy fonts we are all used to. They just had two types of letters: upper and lower case. So, when you wrote your MEMO, or your RESUME, or your TPS REPORT, you would write these titles in capital letters, as you would every SECTION HEADER, and everything you would now put in BOLDFACE or ITALICS (well, some fancy typewriters had italics).

Why Apple still ships the Macbook with a caps lock key, including a built-in tiny LED, is a mystery to me.